Weighing in on McMackin

Hawaii second-year football coach Greg McMackin made national news for all the wrong reasons last week at WAC Media Days when he used a gay slur to describe a cheer done by Notre Dame.

Fresno Bee columnist Matt James ripped the coach in this column, writing:

"... he used a word that is meant to humiliate gay people, to put them in their
place, to let them know they aren't as valuable to the human race as straight
people.
If a gay person died, they wouldn't deserve as much sympathy as
someone else. That's what that word means."

Fair enough. The word McMackin used was a hateful one -- one used to put someone down or hurt someone's feelings. I can only hope he truly realizes why he shouldn't have said what he said.

But it was the use of the word "humiliate" in the column that really got my attention.

As an avid reader of sports stories and columns over the years, and a student of journalism, I've come across far too many stories where hurtful words and phrases have been used to describe people's looks. Is there a double standard to address here?

Take this story as an example. It's another from the Matt James collection (which overall I really enjoy might I add). But this one uses the term "fat" to describe Fresno State baseballer Steve Detwiler as a child:

"Detwiler grew up a fat kid, no other way to say it, short and 40 pounds past
plump. He took a verbal beating every day. Years passed, and the kids at Sun
Valley Elementary in San Rafael never let up.
The couple friends Detwiler did
have picked on him, too. His little sister, Samantha, called him "Bubble Butt"
and, compared to the other names, it was almost cute."

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there another way to say it? While it might not be as colorful to say "overweight," it might be less hurtful than "...a fat kid, no other way to say it, 40 pounds past plump." Reading the story, it sounds obvious Detwiler was affected by the name-calling. Maybe it still hurts him?

Going back to James' column on McMackin, couldn't it be said that "fat" is a term used to humiliate overweight people, put them in their place and let them know they aren't as valuable to the human race as normal weight people?

If so, then why is that terminology acceptable when other terminology is chastised?

Hardwood "glory days"

There's been lots of chatter on the streets (and airwaves) today about Matt James' column in this morning's Fresno Bee. Most seemed to have loved the column -- which is odd in itself because fans never like newspaper reporters.

Makes sense why people liked the column. It was well-written. It was an interesting topic. 'Dogs hoops news is long overdue. And it argued why the Steve Cleveland regime is a success, despite coming off the Fresno State program's worst record in more than two decades. I liked the column too.

But there were two nuggets in there -- two nuggets -- that nearly ruined it for me. Here's one:

"Selland Arena was a better venue for college basketball. Still is. No doubt about it."

Not true. Selland was a great college basketball atmosphere, but it was also home to the Bulldogs during their glory days (more on this later). If Save Mart Center was filled to capacity with fans practically begging to see super-talented teams and had students entering a lottery just to buy season tickets, it would be significantly louder and tougher for visitors to win in than Selland (think about it, 16,000 people vs. 10,000). Essentially, we're talking about taking most of the same Selland fans who earned a reputation for being the Red Wave and adding 6,000 people to it. Louder. More imposing. When Fresno State has its next serious threat on the hardwood, and fans fill the stands, the Save Mart Center will be an unreal venue.

Now on to this "glory days" issue. The column says there never were any:

"Let's be perfectly clear. There were no glory days. They never happened. Since 1982, the Bulldogs have two conference titles. Since 1984, they've been to one NCAA Tournament. One."

James explained that he didn't count one of Jerry Tarkanian's NCAA appearances because it was given an asterisk in the record books due to NCAA violations. But saying there were no glory days is wild. What do you call Fresno State basketball being a national story all season long during the Tark era? A good column would be comparing how many regional and national TV appearances the 'Dogs had under Tark and how many they have had under Cleveland. Another good column idea would be to research all the ranked and traditionally strong teams Tark scheduled and won against. To me -- when a program is mentioned in all the preseason mags and on TV by prognosticators as a threat to go to the Final Four, when guys are going to the NBA (some as lottery picks), when high school All-Americans are anxious to visit Fresno State, when the Bulldogs have a legit shot to win against ANY team in the nation -- those are glory days. In a way, that's what Fresno State's football program is right now -- one that can beat any other team on a given day and has proven it.

Wow, this blog's getting long enough, so I'll spare the fact that the Boyd Grant era could be defined as another set of "glory days." A NCAA tournament final 16 appearance, and a 1983 NIT championship in Madison Square Garden (when the NCAA tourney was smaller and the NIT was much tougher) that led to a parade rivaled only by last year's national championship in baseball.

I read a very funny joke today

It appeared in Matt James' column in The Fresno Bee, where he wrote that more people know who Jerry Yang is than know who Trent Dilfer is.

Done laughing yet? Or maybe you're not laughing? Maybe that made you mad? It kinda did me, until I realized it was probably just a joke. Hyperbole of sorts. I think?

Because unless I'm really out of touch with reality, Dilfer is pretty much a household name amongst NFL fans (which these days live in seemlingly every house, apartment and condo in America). And not one single person I know watches poker on TV on more than a casual basis. Heck, most people I know are actually annoyed if poker is on TV.

Granted, Yang seems like a super guy -- a real giving person and a great Fresnan -- and someone who Fresno should brag about. But I just find it incredibly hard to believe he's in the same realm of famous-ness as Trent Dilfer.